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Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse: Dead of Winter

Do you want to try you hand at surviving the zombie apocalypse, but video games aren’t your thing? Or maybe you just want to have some companions with you during the struggle? Dead of Winter allows you to face off against the hordes of undead– and potentially other players– in a tense, fun board game experience.

It’s co-operative, but…

Dead of Winter sees you and your friends playing a group of survivors trying to get through the winter during a zombie apocalypse. Struggling against not only the zombies themselves, but also nature and one another, players have assorted goals to accomplish to win the game, including potentially betraying the other survivors.

Choosing a scenario, details the specific conditions of victory for the group. Each of the 10 scenarios has a “Hard” variant for added challenge. Each player then chooses two characters that they will play, representing their own faction within the larger community of the colony.

Each of your survivors has scores in Influence, Attack and Search, as well as a special ability. Will your survivor be efficient at killing zombies, or at finding resources? You’ll have to play to each character’s strengths to survive. Is your character helping to build the colony, or will you stab the others in the back to save your own skin? You will have to make decisions throughout the game, prioritizing the survival of the group or your own goals.

Dead of Winter

Each round, the colony faces a crisis of some sort, adding a short-term goal that needs to be achieved to overcome a significant penalty. Failing means a drop in the colony’s morale or something even worse, while success might provide the colony with a boost.

During each round, your character may move around the colony, scrounging for resources, but this is always a risky proposition, for it may result in frostbite, injury or a bite from one of the seemingly-endless numbers of zombies. Will you risk it your life looking for supplies? If you don’t, well, what are you going to eat?

While resource management is important, as is constant vigilence against the undead, much of the real tension in the game comes from not knowing which of the other survivors ou can trust. Or perhaps you are the traitor, attempting to meet your personal goals without being discovered. If you are not aggressive enough in the pursuit of your goals you will fail, but become too obvious and the colony may ostracize you, forcing you to try to survive on your own.

Zombies!

If you are looking for a tense, fun game full of zombie-bashing and potential betrayal, check out Dead of Winter. Just remember to bring snacks for everyone.